Lovie: Nicks Passed His Physical On Monday

June 10th, 2014

carl nicks 0107Lovie Smith drew an interesting line in the sand this afternoon.

Lovie said Carl Nicks officially is healthy and he expects Nicks to be ready when players return for training camp.

The former All-Pro guard ailing after two foot surgeries was present at One Buc Palace today but did not participate in Day 1 of minicamp practice, and he isn’t expected to be working on the field this week.

“Nicks passed his physical on Monday,” said Lovie, who went on to say he expected Nicks and the rest of the roster be ready to go in six weeks. Nicks spoke to media and concurred.

Is there hope? Bucs fans can dream.

Click here for video of Nicks speaking to the media this afternoon. He said he missed OTA practices because they weren’t mandatory and because he was busy “fishing” and his two-week old daughter.

49 Responses to “Lovie: Nicks Passed His Physical On Monday”

  1. tampamac Says:

    Interesting development.. Unless his physical didn’t involve weight bearing on the gnarly toe.. We shall see come late July.

  2. Joe's Liver Says:

    ” Lovie said Carl Nicks officially is healthy ”

    When did he say that ?

  3. Jim Walker Says:

    Yeah, and John Lynch failed his.

  4. mpmalloy Says:

    Is there such a thing as a toe transplant?

    It would be nice to see big Carl next to the control freak
    come September.

  5. The_Buc_Realist Says:

    Can’t wait to see him practice for 3 days, then to sit the rest out.

  6. Buccfan37 Says:

    I guess I have to hold out hope that Nicks will returrn just in the nick of time.

  7. Netwalker Says:

    Wait. He passed his physical, but he’s not going to practice? What am I missing here? Is he too out of shape to move effectively? Are they concerned about re-injuring his toe? Curious.

  8. biff barker Says:

    Passing the physical is a component of a potential MRSA lawsuit. If the Bucs fail him on the physical and say he is incapable of playing they are admitting they are culpable for the MRSA ending his career.

    Legal physical.

  9. robert8 Says:

    he passed his physical…but that aint the problem.
    his A$$ is whats broke. as in he just don’t wanna play.

    this is nothing more than Nicks being in shape enough to get paid.

    and the team telling the doctors the damn well better pass his a$$ cause he’s getting paid and he needs to play. L & L know what he’s up to.

    IF he does take the field he’ll find a way to break a nail by the 1st game of the season. I say he is not on the team when the season starts. say a broken nail in warm ups maybe

  10. Harry Says:

    What am I missing here? So why is he not practicing now? It sounds like the coaches want him to.

  11. PRBucFan Says:

    So much for that “sky is falling” mentality huh?

    I knew The Beast would fight his way back onto that field.

  12. PRBucFan Says:

    And Robert please don’t speak out of your ass like you know him in even the most remote personal way lol.

    So funny ahahaha

  13. DallasBuc Says:

    PR- he is not on the field…

  14. Orca Says:

    Hope is not worth it. Best policy is to plan on living without him, and if he’s able to play, it’s a bonus… but would I trade his roster spot for a young developmental player? H3LL no! Even if he plays, I just don’t see any way he will be durable enough to deserve a roster spot. His foot is probably always going to be at risk for being aggravated… so he’ll never practice and he’ll never develop any cohesiveness with his line-mates… What I really think is going on is a game of chicken. If the Bucs push him, he just might retire, and they would be spared his cap hit. If he isn’t push, he’s just going to milk the season for the 8-9 million paycheck. In any case, I’d rather see them get Patrick Omameh and Kadeem Edwards ready to be starters eventually as opposed to wasting more time on Nicks.

  15. Piratic Says:

    @robert8: That type of conjecture and hyperbole is sheer negativism.

    –Having a bad day?

  16. robert8 Says:

    I got a bridge for sale if you guys don’t think a toe can heal in 3 years.

  17. Orca Says:

    Harry Says:
    June 10th, 2014 at 4:35 pm

    What am I missing here? So why is he not practicing now? It sounds like the coaches want him to.

    What you’re missing is the Nicks will never play another down in the NFL. Accept it. Move on.

  18. robert8 Says:

    not having a bad day. just tired of seeing the team get raked over the coals, while the fans offer sympathy and hold out hope for a guy who has earned neither the respect nor the sympathy of his followers in Tampa.

  19. Eric Says:

    Or perhaps Nicks has done his best to come back from a difficult injury and will be at camp giving it his all.

    Why risk it for OTA work?

    Foot injuries are tough. Lots of guys discharged from the military for it over the years.

    Cut the man some slack.

  20. PRBucFan Says:

    The expression is a common one, shouldn’t be hard to understand what I meant.

    Whether he can fight through it or not once TC is all said and done, he passed his physical and he’ll be on the field come time.

  21. Orca Says:

    ^^ This has nothing to do with respect or sympathy. His foot is f*cked. He’s not going to play. People need to move on. If it weren’t for the guaranteed money, he would’ve been dumped already and he probably would’ve retired.

  22. PRBucFan Says:

    Eric GASP**** NO NEVER!!!

    Lol

  23. Bucnjim Says:

    I am going to get a little laugh when he comes running out on the practice field! The sky is probably not falling chicken littles!

  24. robert8 Says:

    so if his foot is really the problem then take the settlement!

    for some reason the doctors keep saying he is ready to play.

    same same as someone milking a workers comp claim IMO

  25. PRBucFan Says:

    Alrighty well.. Since Orca said so, we’ll just go with it..

  26. Macabee Says:

    That is good news! A major hurdle passed. It is apparent that from this point forward Nicks is going to be a carefully managed resource for the Bucs. As I posted this morning, if you got a 90% Carl Nicks in rotation on running downs, you can go ahead and move the stakes. Lovie said that he’s confident there are no injuries that would keep players from going at the start of preseason camp next month. I assume that also includes Nicks.

    Things may not be as good as we want, but they may not be as bad as we thought either. Young Patrick Omameh is stepping up and saying it’s my turn now. Kadeem Edwards is taking first team reps today – young guns getting into the mix.

    I know its underwear season now, but there’s some starch in them skivvies that I didn’t know was there beforetoday! Young man gonna shock the world! I’m pumped for training camp now!

  27. Orca Says:

    @Bucnjim…
    The sky isn’t falling, but there’s no sense in holding out hope for Nicks. Everybody needs to move on. If he plays, consider it a nice bonus.

  28. Nick H Says:

    I’m definitely on the side of Nicks never playing again than the hopefuls, although it would be a huge bost it just doesn’t sound like he’s ever going to be right again

  29. PRBucFan Says:

    If he plays consider yourself a horrible Ms.Cleo…

    And the plus side of him playing would be much much much more than a nice bonus. Logically speaking that makes a hell of a lot of sense to hold out hope for.

  30. Eric Says:

    Amazing number of podiatrists on here.

  31. Alex2013 Says:

    Let’s move on! The Nicks Mob is leaving town…

  32. Alex2013 Says:

    Cousins for president!

  33. Orca Says:

    PRBucFan Says:
    June 10th, 2014 at 4:59 pm

    Alrighty well.. Since Orca said so, we’ll just go with it..

    My only point, perhaps overstated, is that it doesn’t make any sense to expect anything from this guy. There have been no positive signs except some public relations BS. He can’t run on that foot, can he? So we should expect him to suddenly be able to play in 6 weeks? Huh? It’s crazy… I just think fans should focus on what we’ve got, the young guys they’re developing. The Nicks situation appears to be all smoke screens.

  34. PRBucFan Says:

    I hear ya.

  35. corlew Says:

    you can definitely tell who is the glass half empty or a glass half full kind of person for the comments on here

  36. Netwalker Says:

    Orca, you’re only speculating. Stop pretending you know when you don’t. Nicks may be done and he may not. Your constant droning doesn’t change anything. If you are so concerned about fans moving on, maybe you should take your own advice. As long as Nicks is a member of this team he’ll be the subject of conversation. Move on.

  37. Bucfever40 Says:

    Orca, this may be a situation where he is still on the roster until it comes time to play -and he flops, he may stand to gain more financially under that scenario, we don’t know if he’s milking this thing, I surly would like to think otherwise, but the man has considered his options and knows what’s best for him and his family, and I’m hoping that we end up with the 90% of Nicks that can dominate. But Orca, who ever said he can’t run? Certainly if he passed a physical, some kind of running has to be administered, did I miss something on that?

  38. Bobby Says:

    They want to give Nicks as much time to heal as possible. You see Evans and V-Jax nursing injuries already so why put Nicks at risk until training camp? Smart move on the Buc’s part. I think he’ll be ready. If not, we move on but I have no reason to be anything but hopeful since he passed the physical.

  39. Destinjohnny Says:

    yep fishing is really important and i am sure he will be able to make the kinda coin the bucs are paying him in the private sector

  40. PRBucFan Says:

    Shouldn’t of took time off to be with a newborn baby either right? lol smh

  41. Cobraboy Says:

    I had two nasty bouts of subcutaneous MRSA from a local gym, with two minor surgeries to clean it out, and a whole regimen of drugs to whip it. It is neither easy nor fun.

    Carl Nicks was one of the best OL in the NFL before he got hurt. The coaches know that.

    I see no reason to rush him into the OTA’s. Learning an offense from an OG perspective is not that difficult a task. The 6 weeks before TC can benefit him from getting the foot in better shape.

    Let’s see what happens when he reports to TC, what kind of shape he’s in then before passing harsh judgement.

  42. Atlbuc40 Says:

    Lets see… His daughter is 2 weeks old, he dominated in a up tempo Saints offence, (and us) he has over the top football IQ.. and for the glass half empty fans, media (not Joe’s) cough.. Ira.. Fishing mean’s WTF do you think I was doing… and by the way Joey Galloway , Dunn and just about every other stud veteran football player that we needed during the season (with injury issues)…stayed out of harms way before the games counted.

  43. cmurda Says:

    Video link is just taking me to the Training Days and times thread.

  44. Atlbuc40 Says:

    Sorry that was before the “toe’s on the line era”

  45. Orca Says:

    Just to be clear, I’m not bashing Nicks. I think he had an unfortunate injury and then MRSA complicated things. I’m not that other guy who thinks Nicks is just milking the thing. I just am more interested in the young players that we have recent evidence of an ability to get on the field. My glass is half full on those guys. I don’t see the point in having great expectations for Nicks. I mean, it’s just prudent to move on. Doesn’t mean you don’t give him a chance if you’re the coach, but I think any sense of realism would lead one to avoid counting on Nicks. Likewise, realistically, Bowers is toast and we shouldn’t count on him either. Both of those guys could end up surprising people, but you have to prepare as if they’re not going to contribute at this point. Any coach or GM would tell you that if they’re being honest.

    What Nicks did 3 years ago with the Saints is completely irrelevant. I would be shocked if this guy is able to play more than 3 games this year, if he can even make it through camp.

  46. Harry Says:

    Since there is an “MGM” that is founded for no apparent reason, except that MG8 had bad coaching, no receivers, bad Oline, bad O-scheme, etc, as the MGMers like to say, why is there no CNM when Nicks has very legit excuses?

    @Orca Says:
    “…What you’re missing is the Nicks will never play another down in the NFL. Accept it. Move on…”

    Let me further elaborate then. If he is cleared to practice and is not practicing, he can be fined, which they are obviously not doing. There is obviously something missing from the story. Either that Nicks cannot practice NOW, but can in July, or ????

  47. PRBucFan Says:

    Harry that is just idiotic lol

    He CANNOT be fined for missing non-mandatory mini camps lol.

    And yes according to Joe, he “just’ passed a physical monday.

  48. PRBucFan Says:

    As far as these past few mandatory, they made it clear he won’t hit the field till the start of TC.

  49. BuccaneerBonzai Says:

    Hey, twits, the plan all along was to have him return to action by training camp. That NEVER changed. Only the local media and idiots like robert8 made the claim that he would never return.

    And really, why would anyone take a guy that gets banned seven times seriouly.